Posts for: March, 2014

Dental implants provide a number of advantages as a tooth replacement system, like durability and imperviousness to decay or gum disease. Bone naturally grows and attaches to the titanium posts, strengthening the attachment over time, and they don’t cause damage to adjacent teeth. Best of all, an implant and its crown’s life-like appearance can rejuvenate a person’s smile, transforming their appearance and self-image.

But it takes time to complete treatment with dental implants — months of healing and sufficient bone growth to anchor the implant before affixing the permanent crown. If the natural tooth requires extraction first, this may add another step — and more healing time — to the process.

In recent years, though, patients who meet certain criteria are able to shorten the time after a tooth extraction with “immediate” implants. In this case, rather than waiting for the socket to heal following a tooth extraction, the implant is placed directly into the socket immediately after the extraction. Immediate implants thus combine tooth extraction and implantation into one procedure.

For the best results, the extraction must be done very carefully to avoid as little damage as possible to surrounding tissue and bone. It’s also important for the implant to be completely immobilized within the bone with no movement at all. It will stabilize further as bone growth (or ossification) occurs over time.

It’s also possible to attach a provisional crown to the immediate implant for aesthetic purposes. This isn’t the permanent crown that will be affixed after bone growth around the implant; for that reason it’s made in such a way that it doesn’t contact its counterpart tooth in the opposing jaw. Although the implant is completely immobilized mechanically, it’s still not ready for the full forces of normal biting and chewing. After two to three months, the implant should be fully integrated with the surrounding bone and ready for the permanent crown.

Immediate implants are best for the more visible front teeth that encounter less biting force than back teeth. The technique not only reduces healing time, but enables patients to gain an “immediate” aesthetic benefit — and something worth smiling about.

If you would like more information on immediate implants or other dental implant options, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Immediate Implants.”

What if you had orthodontic treatments to enhance your smile — and nobody knew about it until it was all done?

That (almost) happened to British singer, cover girl and television personality Cheryl Cole. Since her big break in 2002, on the British reality show Popstars: The Rivals, Cole has had a successful music career, taken turns judging both the British and American versions of The X Factor, and graced the covers of fashion magazines like Elle and Harpers Bazaar.

And somewhere along the way, Cole wore an orthodontic appliance. It very nearly went undetected… until a colleague spilled the beans. That’s when Cole was forced to divulge her secret: For a period of time, she had been wearing clear aligners on her teeth. Until her frenemy’s revelation, only a few people knew — but when you compare the before-and-after pictures, the difference in her smile is clear.

So what exactly are clear aligners? Essentially, they consist of a series of thin plastic trays that are worn over the teeth for 22 hours each day. The trays are custom-made from a computerized model of an individual’s mouth. Each tray is designed to move the teeth a small amount, and each is worn for two weeks before moving on to the next in the series. When the whole series is complete, the teeth will have shifted into their new (and better aligned) positions.

Besides being virtually unnoticeable, aligners are easy to remove. This makes it easy to keep the teeth clean — and can come in handy for important occasions (like cover-photo shoots and acceptance speeches). But don’t remove them too frequently, or they won’t work as planned. If that’s a possibility (with teens, for example), aligners are available with “compliance indicators” to ensure they’re being worn as often as they should be. They can also be made with special tabs to hold a place for teeth that haven’t fully erupted (come in) yet — another feature that’s handy for teens.

So if you need orthodontic work but prefer to stay “under the radar,” ask us whether clear aligners could be right for you. Cheryl Cole did… and the results gave her something more to smile about.